Founded in the XII century, Italian Universities are the oldest educational institutions in the Western world and they represent the vanguard of higher education especially in the field of Culture, Industrial Design, Architecture, Applied Sciences, Medicine, Economics and Arts.

The Italian higher education system is divided into Universities and AFAM institutions, Institutes of Further Training in Art and Music and their higher education programs collect more than an average of 300,000 students per year.

At the moment, there are 97 universities in Italy, 12 National Centres for Research and 137 AFAM Institutes which are divided into the sectors of visual arts, music, dance and drama.

Department for international affairs in Universities
In every university, the international affairs office helps foreign students to deal with practical matters (admissions tests, enrolment, information about regional EDISU scholarships and grants, residence permits, health insurance, accommodation and so on.) It is easy to find the department for international affairs help desks by looking at the university website.